Treadmills are a well-known class of exercising machines which are typically difficult to store because of their awkward shape and size. In general, treadmills include a track bed, and a support structure with handle bars. Most treadmills also include a console. Various designs for folding and collapsing treadmills have been or are in present use. Many of these designs are for non-powered treadmills. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 931,394 was an early design of a non-powered foldable treadmill, which discloses a track bed hinged at its forward end to support legs. The simplicity of this design is not easily translatable to a heavier modern treadmill.
One problem with folding a modern treadmill is that the track bed is generally heavier because of various features, including a motor, drive and retractable wheel mechanism. This added weight turns a raised track bed into a hazard. If released from the up-right position, the track bed will rapidly fall and could injure a person. The heavy track bed is also difficult to manually lift to the up-right position and may cause back strain or other injury. It would be desirable to have a track bed that would have an assist device that would prevent the up-right track bed from rapidly falling. Also, it would be desirable for the assist device to reduce the effective weight of the track bed, thus allowing a person to easily lift the track bed to the folded position with minimal effort.
Another problem associated with foldable treadmills is the latch or lock system used to hold the track bed in the up-right position. Once unlatched, the treadmill becomes dangerous if released by the user. It would be desirable to have a lock system that would automatically lock when the track bed is at or near the up-right position.